More Canberrans will have access to weekly collection of food scraps and garden waste.
02 September 2024
In brief:
- The Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection pilot provides a weekly collection of food scraps and garden waste.
- The pilot is being expanded to include more than 1,150 households in multi-unit developments in Tuggeranong and Belconnen.
- Participating households will be formally notified of their involvement in the coming weeks.
The ACT Government is expanding the Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection pilot. From September, the pilot will include more than 1,150 households in multi-unit developments in Belconnen and Tuggeranong.
The FOGO pilot began in November 2021. Each week food scraps and garden waste are collected from about 5,300 households in:
- Belconnen
- Bruce
- Cook
- Macquarie.
From September, the collection pilot will service more Canberrans, including:
- 772 households in Belconnen
- 400 households in Tuggeranong.
These homes will be in multi-development units.
About one-third of items put into household rubbish bins in the ACT is food. This is equal to around 26,000 tonnes of food waste going to landfill each year.
Since the pilot began, it has diverted more than 3,475 tonnes of food and garden waste from landfill. This material has been turned into valuable compost. This supports a circular economy within the ACT and reduces the amount of harmful greenhouse gas emissions that come from our landfill.
The Belconnen and Tuggeranong households added to the pilot will continue to provide information. This data will inform a future Canberra-wide rollout of FOGO. It will also provide insights to help improve waste management practices for multi-unit developments.
Participating households will receive a letter to announce their involvement. There will also be information sessions over the coming weeks. Details will be provided to residents and building managers on the correct use of FOGO in their buildings.
Those households will get an easy-to-use kitchen caddy with compostable liner bags for food scraps. They will also get access to a light green lidded FOGO bin within their shared waste enclosures. There will be no changes to regular bin collections within the expansion areas.
For more information on the FOGO pilot, visit: www.cityservices.act.gov.au.
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